24th November 2016

BRE, Watford, United Kingdom

A global consortium initiative to accelerate the scaling of renewable energy solutions

A group of companies are announcing the launch of the global Bright Minds Challenge to identify and help accelerate the scaling of solutions for 100% renewable energy – focusing on solar and energy storage. The challenge is initiated by DSM, together with Accenture; Greentown Labs; Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, University of Oxford; Solarcentury; SolarAid and Sungevity. The consortium will provide the most promising emerging solutions with a tailored package of commercial, technical and mentoring support to help scientists scale up their solution as quickly as possible.

Helping bright solutions to scale

The companies and organizations behind the #BrightMindsChallenge are committed to 100% renewable energy, and helping to lead the transition to a low carbon economy. The Challenge is designed to help scientists around the world with bright solutions to overcome barriers they face in scaling up their ideas and solutions. Anyone with a solution relevant to renewable energy – focusing on solar and/or renewable energy storage - can submit an entry. The solution needs to be prototyped, and ready to scale up.

A movement open to all

Members of the public are encouraged to get involved by spreading the message to help find the scientists with solutions, and then to share their submissions and vote for the most promising ones. After a public vote to determine the top 10, a panel of experts will then shortlist the top three and select the winner.

The top three solutions will all receive commercial, technical and mentoring support, with the winner getting 500 hours of tailored help to fast-forward their solution. All entrants will receive valuable exposure for their projects.

The hunt for the solutions starts now, with voting taking place in January and February 2017, and the winners being announced in June 2017. The central platform for the #BrightMindsChallenge is www.sciencecanchangetheworld.org